The New Flowering Gum

Went to the favourite nursery where they specialise in native Australian plants and have a lovely display garden which shows where they flourish best in the garden.  All the little microclimates make such a difference to how they survive and how much water they need.

What a find!  We came home with a lovely flowering gum which was for sale at a reduced price.  The labels had washed off in a big rain some time ago and they couldn't vouch for the colour and height.  Oh wow!  We're happy with an educated guess.  This beauty is just right and will give a tall-ish trunk between six and eight metres with thick canopy which will shade the old teak seat below the rockery.  Had a little tipple there just last evening. :-)

Look at all the buds.  Some are starting to doff their little caps and flower.

 

I dips me lid!  See what I mean about the little lids lifting?  And look at the colour.

 

Same buds two days later.  Oh my soul, they're gorgeous.

Now here's the other little thing to make you smile.  My rhubarb patch is doing very nicely but tends to burn in 30 to 40 degree heat. Wouldn't we all!

 

Notice compost tumblers in the background and bright green Vietnamese mint over to the left.

Here's the rhubarb prepared for the heat with umbrella coverage of bracken fronds from another part of the garden.  They work well to prevent the burning.

 

Keeping cool!

Well, hope you enjoyed a little touch of gardening which takes a bit of attention at this time of year south of the equator.

Smiles,
Ros.

An Unexpected Gift From A Friend

Greetings and an announcement, Blog Friends.  This is an important post!

A little while ago, Shirley over at Paper Creations decided to send a gift to someone who left a comment to celebrate her 200th Follower.  Well my name came out of the hat, so-to-speak and my prize arrived earlier this week.  A BIG Thank you, Shirley.  Thanks to Canada Post too, as the parcel arrived in eight days.

I'm so thrilled with the contents of the parcel.

And the bookmark was enclosed as promised - let me entice you to follow the link to Shirley's post to see it and other examples of her lovely work.

And her card is beautiful.

Thank you Shirley, for the prize and a prized friendship that has blossomed gently over time and with mutual appreciation and interest.

Hugs and warmest wishes,
Ros.

Guest Artist, Jasmine in Smiles for Friday.

Some of you might recall that I made a birthday present for Jasmine some time back. That was her eighth birthday - you do the addition. The treasure chest was a bit of a hit at the time, and she was already into some very clever cut-fold-stick creations.

This Christmas, she received a parcel of lots of goodies - watercolour paper, Gelatos, a few stamps, and some tools. She brought her cards to show me and I said she would have a Guest Appearance here. 

Enjoy....


Jazz had some stickers and used some die-cuts from my desk.

Birds and butterflies go well together.

 

These photos go together showing the front and inside of the card.  Some ribbon decorates the centre spread.

And in the spirit of WOYWW, (What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday) here is Jazzie's desk.  It's very tidy;  I don't think she's got the idea of admitting to creative messes that we share on Wednesdays.  ;-)

A little shopping spree of her own and she brought home some punches.

Well, I hope you enjoyed our budding artist.  There is another instalment that I promised.

Hugs to all, especially Jazz.
Ros.

WOYWW No. 243. Back again...

When you live at the beach, folks decide Summer is a good time to visit, which it is! So that's what has been on my agenda this month.  Much as I love the people who come and stay, or come just for the day, it sure is nice to lapse into pleasant routines like blogging and customary sloth!

This is a post about What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday which starts over at Julia Dunnit's Stamping Ground. Satisfy your curiosity and have a look around.

This is a short post today followed by a guest appearance tomorrow. Wait and see.

I've been playing the many videos (of considerable merit) at Creative JumpStart 2014, and here's what has taken my attention today - it's potato carving. I'm interested in this as I really want to carve my own stamps in rubber but this gives some practice on expendable material, the spuds!

I'm not so impressed with the print but the spud carving was okay for first try.

Not so long now before I tackle carving the rubber I think.

 

To all my lovely followers and friends, I do hope that 2014 is truly a Vintage Year for you.

 

Miles of smiles,

Ros.



WOYWW No. 236 Christmas: on the Home Run

Greetings WOYWW-ers and followers. The finger surgery has been quite a success thank goodness however it has slowed me down a bit. I'll show some before and after pics in another post. Sorry I haven't been to visit so many blog friends for so long but typing has been a challenge. Thank you for your comments and messages - really appreciate them very much indeed.

Now to the desk - in case you're not familiar with the weekly What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, follow this link to Julia Dunnit's Stamping Ground and find out all about it.

I've been beavering away at the Eastern Yellow cards and we raised about $500 for our group - very pleasing. I've also been pushing along with my own Christmas cards which you can see this week - they're still on the desk.

I have packets of ten finished cards on the left. The trimmed panels, Liquid Pearls, inks and stamps in use (and some not).

I've made a much simpler card than last year using a Kraft card panel stamped with VersaMagic and embossed with white powder in which I mixed a tiny amount of Judikins Aegean Silver for subtle sparkle. The Hero Arts tree stamp is dotted with Liquid Pearls in two different colour-ways.

This is the first colour combination - red and three different greens.

This is the other colour combination - purple is the dark note with pale green, lemon and orange.

I've added two different grasses at the base of the tree and some white ribbon printed with VersaCraft ink - I only have black. I tried Colorbox Crafter's in red and green but it bleeds on the ribbon like everything else. Wasted my cash on it really.

Cheery smiles to all,
Ros.

WOYWW No. 233. Cards for a Yellow Robin.

Greetings WOYWW-ers.

I've sadly missed a few weeks of desk hopping, but lots has happened - some glad, some sad and some bad. Firstly a fast and friendly 'hello' to my comrades who visit and follow my blog.  For those who wonder what the desk viewing is about, hop over to the Stamping Ground.

The Glad news is on my desk. I am part of a team setting up a little fund raiser for the local friends group of our lovely Balcombe Estuary. I have designed a Christmas card which accompanies the donations to our Group. It includes the Eastern Yellow Robin which makes its home along the Estuary.

The Eastern Yellow Robin as a Christmas feature.

In case you wondered, Woody has a seated vantage point in a busy corner.

The sad news is that our little Blackbird family nesting above the front porch light has been raided by a Butcher Bird. Three chicks were thrown out of the nest this morning. One of them is still breathing, moving, swallowing but I don't know whether it will survive. It's only a few days old and feeding it is a problem. Mrs Blackbird has disappeared and Mr Blackbird has been flying up and down in great distress.

It's a fine nest, buttressed against the light.

Four days old and three happy little beaks.

 

In one rampage, the Butcher Bird threw them all out.

 

One has survived but only just; still breathing, swallowing.

Mr Blackbird has been up and down all day.

Finally, the bad news is that I had some day surgery on my left middle finger. It was really a very effective experience full of efficiency, attention to detail and light-hearted care. So, it's not really that bad, just a bit sore and a great excuse to dodge my duties and soak up some pampering!



A fat finger - the osteophytes caused a problem here. Damn this arthritis.

Must be away. The finger is not up to any more activity.
Miles of Smiles,
Ros.

Friday Smiles: View from my Bathroom

Hello Friday smilers.  Joining in with Annie's Friday Smiles.

This is just a little photo essay to make you smile - I was smiling while I cleaned my teeth so I decided to take some pictures. It's the view from my bathroom window which seemed especially lovely this morning. Here it is in step-by-step zoom.

Looking across the garden to a lovely 'borrowed view' of eucalypts.

Zooming in a little on the California poppies, some yellow, some orange.

 

Who's the gal holding the floor, stealing the show from anything lavender?

 

The self-sewn star of the poppy show - the hussy with purple curly hair.

Ain't she gorgeous?  Look at those buds, and wait until you see the seed pods.

I'll post those dangerously ornamental and handsome seed pods when they arrive. Hope you're well and smiling.

Hugs,
Ros.